Chinese football team in sex scandal

China's widely-derided national football team has suffered a new embarrassment
after some of its players were photographed apparently taking girls to their
hotel during the Olympics.

By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai

11:47AM BST 05 Sep 2008

While other Chinese sportsmen received adulation during the Beijing games, the football team has been the butt of endless jokes ever since it lost to Iraq in a World Cup qualifier in June.

Its reputation was not enhanced over the Olympics, when the team was thrashed 3-0 by Brazil, got two players sent off against Belgium and drew with New Zealand.

"It's so beyond an embarrassment that it almost seems like a comedy," said Li Chengpeng, a popular sports writer.

The game against Belgium was even marred by violence when a Chinese player, Tan Wangsong, deliberately kicked a Belgian player in the crotch. "Our team won the gold medal in martial arts," went one joke.

The team is nicknamed guo zhu, or "national pigs", because it is phonetically close to the phrase for "national team", guo zu.

The latest scandal came after three players were photographed by fans with a group of girls at a hotel outside of the official training camp.

According to one anonymous eyewitness, the players had been "hugging and embracing" the women. The rendezvous occurred the night before the 3-0 loss to Brazil.

"I did not think about it too much at the time, but after watching the game the next day and seeing how terribly they played, I knew they were up to no good the night before!" said the witness.

One of the players has subsequently written a self-denouncement, in which he retired from the national team.

However, he added: "As for the hotel room incident, I want to explain to the leadership that on that evening, I only went to take a bath, and after showering, I returned to the team."

His excuse of "taking a bath" has already passed into popular idiom on the internet as an unconvincing excuse.

"You might ask, why didn't I shower in the team dormitory? The truth is that on that day, the water temperature adjustment in our room wasn't functioning normally," the unnamed player continued, before promising that he only spent 30 minutes in the hotel.